Baseball: Falcons Land in Final Four Again

Cranston West will once again be among four elite teams competing for the RIIL Division I state title. The Falcons are in that familiar perch again after Michael Hayden pitched a six-hitter and drove in the game-clinching run in a 5-4 win over Moses Brown in a regional finals game held in Providence on Sunday.  

The tall Falcons senior hurler hit a scorching two-out single in the sixth inning past third baseman Jake Jordan to drive in the go-ahead run and then retired the last six batters in a row.

But Moses Brown put the Falcons on its heels to begin the contest, scoring all of its runs and making all their hits in the second and third innings to go ahead, 4-0.

Three straight Quaker batters connected for solid hits in the second—Cam Brown with a double just inside the right field line, a Jake Jordan infield single, and Max Martineau with an RBI single. A Travis Army sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third and a suicide squeeze bunt attempt by Anthony Mattiello succeeded in driving in the second run

In the third, the hosts capitalized again, this time on the only two Falcons errors of the game. After successive singles by Mike Beneduce and Tim Graul, an error at shortstop loaded the bases and Martineau delivered his second RBI single.  Another Quakers runner came home on a fielded ball dropped near home plate by Hayden.  That would be the last mistake the righthander made at bat or on the mound.

The Falcons bats finally erupted in the fourth. Hayden led off with a single, advanced on an infield error and Matt McCool loaded the bases on a single. Steve Stravato stroked a two-run single and stole second to set the stage for another stinging two-run single by Tyler Collins to tie the contest.

The Falcons threatened in the fifth on Jeff Diehl’s second single, then Hayden was hit by a pitch. Then Hayden was caught off base and Diehl also seemed to be caught in a rundown, but both made it back safely. But Quakers starting pitcher Rob Rinn fielded a grounder to nip McCool at first, walked Alex Rodriques to load the bases and then struck out Stravato to leave three runners stranded.

In the sixth, after Rinn forced successive ground-ball outs, Matt Pagano singled to right and streaked to second base when the ball was bobbled in right field. Diehl was hit by a pitch before Hayden came through with his clutch RBI single.

Moses Brown did not record a hit in the last four innings as Hayden mowed down 12 of the 13 batters he faced, six on outfield fly balls and three on strikeouts. He retired the Quakers 1-2-3 in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings.

Rinn pitched well and in a fast rhythm, scattering ten hits, striking out five, walking one and hitting two Falcon batters on 85 pitches.

On 95 pitches, Hayden yielded six hits, struck iut four and walked two Quakers batters.

“Hayden was an absolute warrior,” said Falcons head coach Rob Malo. “I wasn’t sure what to expect from him after just three days rest. He just got stronger as time went on. He’s a very competitive kid. We shot ourselves in the foot at times but we battled back and I couldn’t be more proud of the entire team.”

“Moses Brown is a very good team and their first five to six guys were dangerous, Malo added.

“It was a well-played game where we made a couple more mistakes than they did,”said Quakers head coach Kevin Matson. "The pitcher played his heart out; all our players played their hearts out. We just made one more mistake at the wrong time.”

The win sends the Falcons into the Final Four involving regional winners in the best 2-of-3 series beginning on Wednesday, June 1 at McCarthy Stadium in West Warwick on Wednesday. Cranston, a #4 seed plays #6 East Greenwich while #10 Middletown will meet #1 North Kingstown.

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